Richard Braceful
Com/155 University
Composition and Communication 1
Week 9 Assignment
Are you influenced by Politicians or Preachers?
The masses of people are controlled by the few leaders we pledge our allegiance to. Would you kill if you were asked by a leader? Would you sacrifice your life at the request of a leader, for the common good? These are the questions that reveal the influence that politicians and preachers have over our lives. I can remember, countless number of times, I have made a decision based on purely affiliation. Without a second thought of my own, I reasoned that “if Mr. Democratic Politician or Reverend Do Right said this it must be true”. I was influenced to make a decision by someone outside of me.
Let me state this emphatically, everyone has someone that is able to influence their decisions from time to time. We place a great deal of trust in the elective process. When a government official goes through the rigorous process of election, we feel we have someone in office we can trust. There are times when we give them our blanket seal of approval without further investigation. We do the same thing with those men that stand behind a pulpit and speak to us every, Saturday, Sunday or whenever we meet. They take a stand on something and we follow then because of the place that they stand every time we meet there. They say, “Vote this way “, and without question we vote that way, because Reverend Do Right can’t be wrong! There are times when we give them our blanket seal of approval without further investigation.
Let’s look at their track record, in two thousand three, a politician, that I won’t give a name to, led us into a war. He convinced us we were in eminent danger from, “weapons of mass destruction”. We believed him and gave him our seal of approval only to discover that there were no weapons of mass destruction, but a hidden agenda. Let’s study the Reverend that stands before us weekly, in the last 20 years we have discovered that leaving our children in their care was not such a good idea. Countless number of young men and some young women have come forward to tell of horror stories that make the toughest man break down and cry. We have given our seal of approval, money, power, and even our children to some, only to find out that they had a hidden agenda, behind their false, good intentions.
What is it that causes us to do these things? When we hear on the news of the betrayal of one of these offices weekly, it seems. It is simply influence! We have given ourselves to these two groups of people in a way that we have given over to no one else. When an election year comes we contribute multimillions of dollars to hear them talk to us on television. They tell us things that we know are not true, yet we send campaign contributions to finance the greatest show they can give us. Later, over the next four years we are disappointed enough to start a fire in Washington, however we listen to the next one tell the same story in a different way and we yield to them again.
The Reverend makes his claim, “the church is in need of this or that”. He tells us,” the poor needs to be helped”, and we are responsible for doing so. We gather together, and we give him a blank check! He continues to tell us what we are building up for, we listen, and nothing ever gets build. It’s the “imaginary building fund”. Just like the politician we are sold a dream, without so much as a decent investigation into whether what is being said is even possible. He is the man of the cloth,” we should trust him”, some will say. We continue to yield again and again. The influence of these men, have driven us into dark alleys, and years of counseling. We have spent endless amounts of money trying to repair what they have done, we realize we can’t, and we spend even more trying to figure out how to go on. They are very different in the way they use their influence. One speaks on behalf of the people, the other on behalf of God. One is given a thorough background check, the other has recovered from plenty of mistakes, and we love his ability to bounce back. One has a limit on how long he can stay in the job; the other does it until he dies. Their influence is the same with us, yet they are different.
I, like you, have participated in giving both these offices my influence. I listened without a reason or common sense thought, then, it hit me one day! It’s perfectly fine to ask questions, there is nothing wrong with expecting accountability. I have the right to a background check, to know the history of the one I am giving my influence. Even Jesus asked, “Who do men say that I am”, I know they have an opinion of me. We have to make the person that we give our influence, give us something. Respect for the people that make it possible for them to lead.
Your influence is too important for you to turn it over to someone and walk away. Make sure the next time you give someone your seal of approval, whether politician or preacher, they deserve it. The job of making men accountable belongs to us. We must demand from our leader’s honesty, not perfection. When we give them our influence we must expect them to give us a job well done. There can be no excuses when it comes to honesty. Power and influence in the hand of the dishonest leader is rape of the people they represent.
